Until Saturday, Virginia had been a team that thrived off big moments. Whether it was a game-sealing interception against Florida State or a game-winning touchdown against Louisville, the Cavaliers found a way to win games down the stretch.
But against Duke, they just fell flat on critical plays. It felt as if the pressure of a College Football Playoff was too much to handle for Virginia, while a Duke team with no pressure took advantage.
Over and over on key downs, Duke just found a way to extend drives and the Cavaliers could not muster enough will to stop them. Virginia allowed the Blue Devils to go 6-16 and 3-4 on third and fourth downs, respectively, a distant disparity from the season averages allowed by the Cavalier defense. Losing on key downs is usually a recipe for disaster.
“I feel like we missed and made mistakes that they capitalized on,” senior linebacker James Jackson said. “It’s hard to win games when you make mistakes a lot.”
But why were the Cavaliers so uptight in a game that, on paper, should have caused no stress? After all, just three weeks ago Virginia beat Duke on the road in a dominant 34-17 victory.
The issue, though, is that the Cavaliers have not been in a situation like Saturday before. Being one win away from the College Football Playoff — and being favored to win said ACC title game — is unfamiliar territory for the program.
The majority of this roster, aside from transfers like graduate defensive end Mitchell Melton and graduate receiver Jayden Thomas, have never played in a conference championship game. Just one player, graduate safety Antonio Clary, remains from Virginia’s last ACC Championship appearance in 2019.
While nobody on the Blue Devils had been there for their last appearance, some of their most important players have played in high-stakes games before. Sophomore quarterback Darian Mensah started in Tulane’s AAC Championship game last year, while graduate receiver Cooper Barkate had the experience of winning consecutive conference titles at Harvard.
This experience of playing in big games surely helped, as did the expectations on each team coming in. Virginia knew it was one win away from the CFP, while Duke was a five-loss team playing for glory with no expectations to win. The Blue Devils played into this underdog mentality well, taking aggressive stylistic moves to slow the game down and squeeze the Cavaliers out of possession.
“They did a really good job. You could tell strategically,” Coach Tony Elliott said. “Their plan was to shorten the game and minimize the number of possessions for us, and they were working the clock.”
This strategy was effective on both sides of the ball and made Virginia uncomfortable in a way that had not been seen all season. Graduate quarterback Chandler Morris found himself playing tight the whole game, constantly under pressure and being too eager to make tough throws. A lot of this seemed to stem from desperation to find chunk plays due to the limited possessions he was given to work as well as the tight score.
“It was a championship football game, and Duke has one of the highest pressure rates of anyone in the country with their front four,” Elliott said. “It was just a battle.”
Even despite the rough start, the Cavaliers rallied as usual and found a way to get the game to overtime. However, the same pressure that plagued them early on crept its way back into every aspect of how Virginia approached the extra period.
A remarkable goal line stand on three consecutive downs meant hope remained, but it all fell apart when the pressure peaked on fourth down. In a perfect storm of chaos, Mensah evaded multiple potential sacks from the Cavaliers, eventually finding an open Blue Devil. Jackson came in hot to sit Mensah down which caused a 15-yard penalty that added more pressure to an already key next Virginia drive.
While pressure can make diamonds, it turned the Cavalier offense to dust. On the next play, Morris’ game ending interception was thrown. For once, poor clutch play killed the Cavaliers instead of their opponents.
With the regular season over, Virginia will not get its shot at the coveted College Football Playoff trophy. Instead, they will head to a bowl game in which nothing of note can be won. A storybook regular season ending in tragedy as the team turns up flat in big moments just one game short of their destiny. For Elliott, the mistakes and the loss sting. The next step for Elliott and his team is to ignore the pressure and find a way to win the next big game.
“I believe this is an opportunity for us to set our eyes forward, learn from our mistakes and go back to work,” Elliott said.
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